Time-lock.



No. 833.094. PATBNTED 00T. 9, 1906. H. o. vSTOG'KWBLLI TIME LOOK.

Arrmonlon nun AUG. 1. 1905.

Tur' @infuus rrrxns cai, vusumaron, o. c,

the line a02 x2, Fig. 1.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

TIME-LOCK- speeincation of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 9, 1906.

Application filed August 7, 1 905 Serial No. 2 72,9 7 7.

.T0 ctZ iii/1,0m t lmay concern.-

Be it known that I, HERBERT C. STOCK- WELL, a citizen ofthe UnitedStates, residing at Los Angeles, in the county of Los Angeles and Stateof California, have invented a new and useful Time-Lock, of which thefollowing is a specification.

This invention relates to time-locks; and one obj ect of the inventionis to provide a timelock which is self-contained-that is,built to itsown frame and having all of its parts assembled, fitted together, andarticulated in one frame or case, thereby forming a unit independent ofthe safe-door. The time-lock may thus be readily removed for cleaning orrepairs without requiring the services of an expert.

Another object is to provide a time-lock which is capable of-being setso that after being wound up it will remain unlocked for any period oftime desired and which at the end of the desired period'willautomatically lock the bolts for the time desired and will automaticallyunlock the bolts at the expiration of the time set, thus permittinaccess to the safe during a period of time a ter the time-lock has beenwound up and before it looks the bolts.

Another object is to provide a novel and eifective means wherebythe'bolts will be unlocked at the time set if the movement has beenoverwound.

Another object is to provide means for preventing displacement of theretainingbolts of the time-lock and to maintain the retainin -bolts inposition in the frame of the time-loc (when it is removed from the doorof the safe, a further object being to prevent accidental loosening ofthe retaining-bolts when screwed into the door of the safe.

Further objects of the invention relate to details of construction,which will be brought out in the following description.

The accompanying drawings illustrate the invention, and, referringthereto, Figure 1 is a front elevation of the time-lock, showing aportion of the locking-dog, a portion of the case of the time-lock beingbroken away adjacent the locking-dog. The door of the timelook is shownopen.

Fig. 3 is a section on the line Q03 :123, Fig., 1. Fig. 4 is a detail infront elevation of the device for automatically stopping the movement ifit runs faster than its normal speed. Fig. 5 is a front elevation Fig. 2is a section on of the time-lock, showing it in position on thesafe-door, the wall of the safe being sectional and the locking-boltsbeing shown in locked position. Fig. 6 is a section taken diametricallythrough the adjustable device for controlling the locking-bar. Fig. 7 isa perspective view of the latch-bar.

Referring to Fig. 5, 1 designates the wall'of the safe. 2 is the door ofthe safe. 3 designates locking-bolts. 4 is the bolt-carrier with alocking-dog 5. 6 designates the case of the time-lock, which is providedat each corner with a lug 7. Each lug 7 (see Fig. 2) is bored centrallyand counterbored to form an inside annular flange 8, situated aboutmidway of the ends of the lug. The case 6 contains or carries all of theparts of the timelock and is detachably fastened to the safedoor 2 bymeans of retaining studs or bolts 9, which pass through the respectivelugs 7 and are screwed to the safe-door. Each stud 9 has a flange 10,which abuts against the safedoor and serves to position the stud. Eachstud has a removable slotted head 11, which is screwed to the shankofthe stud and prevented from accidentally unscrewing by means of asmall locking-screw 12. (See Fig. 1.)

Within each lug encircling the stud and on opposite sides of the flange8 are coil-springs 13 and 14, the spring 13 being interposed between thehead 11 and the flange 8 and the spring 14 being interposed between theflange 8 of the lug and the liange 10 of the stud. Thus the two springsin each lug by their pressure prevent the studs from accidentallyunscrewing from the safe-door and also rmly hold the time-lock in placeon the studs. The slotted heads 11 are made removable for the purpose ofassembling the studs and springs in the lugs. Another function of thisconstruction of studs and springs is to support the time-lockresiliently with respect to the safe-door, so that if the safe sustains'a hard jar-as, for instance, from an explosive-the time-lock iscushioned from the shock by the springs 13and 14 and is thus very muchless liable toinjury from such a cause than if it were attached rigidlyto the safe-door. A most important advantage of this construction isthat when the time-lock is detached from the safe-door the studs areheld in the lugs and cannot become lost or misplaced.

The casing 6 of the time-lock has a slot 15 yto receive the locking-dog,and the back of IOO IIO

the casing 6 in the rear of the slot15 is cut away, as at 16, leaving abeveled edge 17, as shown in Fig. 3, which allows the time-lock to beremoved from the door of the safe without disconnecting the locking-dog5. When the bolts 3 are shifted into their locking position, so that theend of the locking-dog 5 is retracted and its end only projects slightlyinto the slot 15, as shown in Fig. 3, the timelock may readily bedetached and withdrawn from the safe-door without interfering with thelocking-dog,as the recess 1 6 allows the casing 6 to freely clear thelocking-dog as it is drawn out, Sufficient clearance is allowed betweenthe front wall of the slot 15 and the edge of the locking-dog 5 topermit the play or vibration of the time-lock along the studs toward andfrom the safe-door without interfering with the locking-dog. Thetimelock is not moved out of register with the locking-dog if itsustains the vibration along the studs, as the slot 15 is sufficientlywide, and as the internal flanges 8 bear upon the studs the casing isprevented from moving laterally of the studs to bring the slot 15 out ofvertical register with the locking-dog.

vA latch-bar 18 has its ends mounted to slide in brackets 19 and 2O andon its back side is provided with three lugs 21, 22, and 23. mounted inthe bracket 19 has a shoulder 24, and the adjacent end of the latch-baris slightly narrower than the ways in the bracket 19 to permit of aslight vertical play of that end of the latch-bar in .the bracketsufficient to allow the shoulder 24 to engage the edge of the bracket19when the latch-bar is slightly tilted, which edge forms a stationaryabutment. When the latch-bar is tilted down,its shoulder 24 isfree ofthe stationary abutment formed by the edge of the bracket 19, and thelatch-bar may be slid to the left. When the latch-bar is tilted up sothat its should er 24 engages the stationary abutment,

" the latch-bar is prevented from sliding to the The latch-bar has athumb-piece or' left. knob 25, by means of which it may be tilted.

A plate 26 is arranged in the lower part of the casing 6, and screwedthereto isa stud 27, to whichis pivoted a bell-cranklever 28, having'arms 29and 30, the end of the arm 29 lying against 'thev lug 21, thearm 30 having a perforation 31, into which projects a pin 32, carried byan intermediate lever 33, which is situated back of the plate 26 andpivoted to a shaft 34, the plate 26 having a slot 35, through which thepin 32 projects and which is curved concentrically with the shaft 34 toallow the pin to play freely up or down when it is actuated by the lever28, the pin fitting loosely enough in the perforation 31 to give thenecessary freed om of movement.

The end of the intermediate lever 33 rests upon a locking-lever 36,pivoted to a shaft 37. A flat spring 38 on the intermediate le- The endof the latch-bar which isver, which bears against the frame, yieldinglyholds the intermediate lever 33 depressed, and the latter in turn holdsthe locking-lever 36 tilted so that its end lies close to and directlybehind the slot 15, as shown in Figs, 1 and 3, thus standing in front ofthe end of the locking-dog 5 and preventing the latter from being slidto the left, which is the direction of movement of the locking-dog whenthe bolts are operated to unlock the safe-door. Thus when thelocking-lever stands in front of the locking-dog the safe-door cannot beunlocked.

In order to unlock the safedoor, the locking-lever 36 must thus bedepressed so that its end will stand below the slot 15 and thelocking-dog 5 to allow the latter to be operated, and this action isaccomplished by shifting the latch-bar to the right, the lug 21 of whichacting against the bell-crank 28 tilts the latter, which raises thek pin32 and lifts.l the intermediate lever 33, allowing the outer end of thelocking-lever to swing down by gravity, thereby allowing the locking-dogto be operated.

The latch-bar is shifted automatically by either one or all of the threedevices carried by dials a, b, and c, which dials are respectivelyoperated by the three movements A, B, and C. In the present form of theinvention the dials are respectively provided with pins a', b/ and c.The dials are operated counterclockwise by the respective movements,land thus each dial when operated by its movement will in a certain timebring its pin against the respective lug of the latch-bar, and therebyshift the latch-bar to the right.

The time required for a movement to bring its dial-pin against its lugto shift the latchbar obviously depends upon the degree the dial hasbeen turned when winding up the movement, and thus the movements may bewound to lock the locking-dog for any desired length of time within thecapacity of the movement. The movements are set when winding them withthe key-that is, by turning the key the spring of the movement is woundand at the same time the dial of the movement is turned a correspondingdegree. Thus to set a movement the key is turned to rotate the dial tothe point at which the proper time-numeral of the dial stands under thepointer 44, and during this movement of the dial the spring is wound toa tension suficient to run the movement for the number of hourscorresponding to the setting of the dial. Thus the terms winding andsetting are in a sense synonymous, since when the movement is said tohave been set it is necessarily wounc and vice versa.

In setting the time-lock all three movements are wound up the desireddegree, so that if anything should happen to prevent the properoperation of one or two of the movements in running down the third-onewill be sufficient to shift the latch-bar.` If all these movements rundown perfectly, they will obviously all act together to shift thelatch-bar, but the operation of any one only of the movements issufficient.

Referring to Fig. 1, the small left end of the latch-bar 18 is held inelevated position in the bracket 19 when the time-lock is set, by thefriction of its shoulder 24 bearing against the edge of the bracket 19,which friction is considerable, being caused by the pressure of arm 29against lug 21, the arm 29 being pressed to the left by downwardpressure of pin 32 acting on arm 30, pin 32 being carried byintermediate lever 33, which is downwardly pressed by the fiat spring38.

Adjustably fastened on the dial d by means of a screw 40 is a latch-trip41, having a nose 42, which is adapted to be carried around as the dialrotates to strike against the upper surface of the lug 21 and depressthe latchbar, so that its shoulder 24 is moved down slightly, andthereby disengaged from the bracket 19, whereupon the spring 38 willforce down the intermediate lever 33 and cause the bell-crank lever 28to act against the lug 21 and shift the latch-bar to the left. At thesame time the locking-lever 36 is tilted upwardly by the intermediatelever 33 and stands in front of the locking-dog 5, so that the bolts arelocked. The'latch-trip 41 has a hand 43 diametrically opposite the nose42, while the movement A has a fixed pointer 44, affording a gage forsetting the latch-trip at the point desired.

This device allows of winding up the movements and shutting thesafe-door with the bolts unlocked, the device acting to lock the boltsautomatically after the desired interval. For example, by setting thelatchtrip to lock the bolts within a half-hour after the door has beenclosed opportunity is afforded to open the safe before the time-lockgoes on, this being a great convenience. Again, a bank may close in theafternoon, but open for a short time in the evening to receive deposits.In such case the movements may be wound up at the close of theafternoons business, and before shutting the safe-door the latch-tripshould be set to lock the bolts at the time the evening business isconcluded. Thus the safe-door may be locked by the combination-lock atthe expiration of the afternoon business and unlocked at thecommencement of the evening business and again locked at the expirationof the evening business, the time-lock automatically locking the boltsat the time limit set. The movements continue operating from the timethey are jwound up, but the bolts are not locked until .the desiredinterval has passed.

Attached to the dial b is an adjustable latch-bar shifter 45,constructed very much like the latch-trip 41 and shown in section inFig. 6, being adjust-ably secured to the dial l) by screw 46, and has anose 47, which is adapted to strike against the lug 22 and shift thelatch-bar, there being a hook 48, which is adapted to strike against thepin b to prevent the hook 48 being adjusted to a point behind the pin blf the movements should be overwound, so

that they will require a longer time than desired in running down beforeoperating the latch-bar, the mistake can be rectified by adjusting thehand of the latch-bar shifter to the proper numeral on the dial b, whichwill set the nose 47 ahead of the pin b a degree corresponding to theamount the movement has been overwound. Thus the movement in runningdown will bring nose 47 against the lug 22 and shift the latch-bar atthe right time. For example, on all week days except Saturdayfa bankeach night might set the time-lock to release the locking-dog after aperiod of, say, fifteen hours, while on Saturday or the day before aholiday the timelock would be set for a period of twenty-four hourslonger which, would be thirty-nine hours. This setting of course isalways indicated by the dials. In other words, after the time-lock hasbeen set the official before he closes the safe-door can tell by aglance at thedials for what time it has been set tol open. Assume thatthe official, being under the impression that the next day was aholiday, set the time-lock to open after thirtynine hours. He did notimmediately close the safe-door and soon after learned that the next daywas not a holiday. He therefore upon discovering this mistake canrectify it in the manner above described, so that the safe can be openedafter the fifteen-hour period at the proper hour the next day. Obviouslyhe must discover and rectify the mistake before he closes the safe-door,for after the safe-door is shut he cannot change the setting of thetime-lock.

ln order to automatically prevent the movements from running down toofast, each movement is provided with a disk A49, mounted on afast-running arbor 50, geared in the train of the movement. A detent 5lis pivoted at 52 to the disk 49 and is normally held against a stop 53by a spring 54. When the movement is running at normal speed, the detentis held by the spring against the stop; but if the movement should runfaster than its normal speed the detent will fly out and strike againsta stationary stoppin 55, which will stop the movement from running down.Thus, for example, if dynamite is used to blow open the safe and if thejewels of any of the movement should be broken from the concussion andan arbor thus shifted so that its gear is thrown out of mesh themovement will be stopped almost immediately by the detent 51 flying outfrom the centrifugal force due to the abnormally fast speed of themovement, and thus the timellock will not unlock the locking-dogprematurely.

What I claim is- 1. In a time-lock,a casing with lugs, studs passingthrough the lugs and secured to the safe-door, the diameter of a studbeing less than the bore of the lug, the lug having an internal flangewhich fits the stud, the stud having a flange which abuts against thedoor, a removable head on the stud, means for locking the head on thestud, a coil-spring between the internal flange and the head, and acoil-spring between the internal flange and the flange of the stud.

2. In a time-lock, a casing with lugs, studs passing through the lugsand secured to the safe-door, the diameter of a stud being less than thebore of the lug, the lug having an internal flange which fits the stud,the stud having a flange which abuts against the door, a removable headon the stud, means for locking the head on the stud, a coil-springbetween the internal flange and the head, and a coil-spring between theinternal fiange and the flange of the stud, the length between the headof a stud and its flange being somewhat greater than the length of thelug.

3. In a time-lock, a movable latch-bar for controlling the opening ofthe safe-door, one end of which bar has a shoulder and has a limitedvertical play, a stationary abutment adapted to be engaged by theshoulder to detachably hold the latch-bar from shifting, timingmechanism and means operated by the timing mechanism for disengaging theshoulder of the latch-bar from the abutment.

4. In a time-lock, a movable bar for controlling the opening of thesafe-door, one end of which bar has a shoulder and has a limitedvertical play, a stationary abutment adapted to be engaged by theshoulder to detachably hold the latch-bar from shifting, timingmechanism and means operated by the timing mechanism for disengaging theshoulder of the latch-bar from the abutment, means for automaticallyshifting the latch-bar in one direction when thus disengaged, and meansoperated by the timing mechanism for shifting the latch-bar in theopposite direction.

5. In a time-lock, a movable latch-bar, for controlling the opening ofthe safe-door, one end of which bar has a shoulder and has a limitedvertical play, a stationary abutment adapted to be engaged by theshoulder to detachably hold the latch-bar from shifting, timingmechanism and adjustable means operated by the timing mechanism fordisengaging the shoulder of the latch-bar from the abutment.

6. In a time-lock, a movable latch-bar for controlling the opening ofthe safe-door, one end of which bar has a shoulder and has a limitedvertical play, the latch-bar having a lug,l a stationary abutmentadapted to be engaged by the shoulder to detachably hold the latch-barfrom shifting, timing mechanism, a disk operated by the timingmechanism, a latch-trip carried by the disk and having a nose adapted tobear against the top of said lug and depress the latch-bar to disengageits shoulder from the abutment.

7. In a time-lock, a movable latch-bar for controlling the opening ofthe safe-door, said bar having a lug, timing mechanism, a disk operatedby the timing mechanism, a pin carried by the disk adapted to strikeagainst the lug to shift the latch-bar, and an adjustable latch-barshifter carried with the disk and having a nose adapted to strikeagainst the lug and shift the latch-bar.

8. In a time-lock, a movable latch-bar for controlling the opening ofthe safe-door, ,said bar having a lug, timing mechanism, a disk operatedby the timing mechanism, a pin carried by the disk adapted to strikeagainst the lug to shift the latch-bar, and an adjustable latch-barshifter carried with the disk and having a nose adapted to strikeagainst the lug and shift the latch-bar and a hook on the latch-barshifter adapted to strike against the pin on the disk to prevent thelatch-bar shifter being set behind the pin.

9. In a time-lock, means for detachably fastening the same -to thesafe-door comprising bolts revolubly mounted in the lock and adapted tobe screwed to the safe-door, means lpreventing separation of the boltsfrom the time-lock, and means on the outer ends of the bolts forpermitting turning of the bolts relatively to the time-lock to unscrewthem from'the safe-door and allow the time-lock to be removed bodily andthe bolts IOC)

